St Andrew's New Plymouth 2.97

We are a faith family under the leadership of Jesus the Messiah, our Lord. We deeply respect the authority of the Bible, Old and New Testaments. We gather regularly as a congregation and as smaller communities to celebrate and worship our God and hear teaching from Scripture as the Holy Spirit of God leads and directs us.

At this point in our journey we are seeking to understand and live out more fully what it means to be the people of God. In this we are learners. We do not confess to knowing all truth but kn ow that the Truth has taken hold of us. Nor is this journey complete but, instead, we seek to grow in union with Jesus the Christ and with one another.

We have a growing sense and need to interface with the wider city more and seek ways of doing this which is meaningful for people who are not part of us or who share our relationship in Christ.

Some history about the congregation:

New Plymouth was founded as a settlement in 1841 by the New Zealand Company. The first Presbyterian minister in the area was the Rev. John Thom who first arrived in 1858 and on satisfying himself that there were enough Presbyterians in the area set up permanent residence in 1860.

The foundations for the first Presbyterian Church centre were laid in 1866 and was on a site in Devon Street about half a kilometre from the present centre.

In 1926 an appeal was made for a new church centre by the then minister, Rev McLennan Wilson and shortly after the present section on the corner of Liardet and Courtenay Streets was purchased. The section was chosen because of its prominent position in the area at the time. The present church building was completed and Dedicated by Professor Hewitson on April 16th 1932.

Further milestones were the opening of the hall in 1954, the installation of a three manual pipe organ in 1962 and the addition of a foyer and meeting room in 1979. In 1995 the adjoining section was purchased from the New Plymouth District Council and is used as car parking for church activities. In 2013 St Andrews celebrated its sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary.

The church building has been maintained to an excellent standard over the last 10 years with a new steeple, restored stain glass windows, cleaning of the stonework and painting of the outside of the church and hall. The church buildings and how we “do church” has changed radically over the last 152 years it has been in existence, but we still worship the same unchanging faithful God.

Check out our events calendar here: http://www.standrewsnp.org.nz/events-calendar/